Only facing up to your debt problems will stop the stress September 21, 2011 DON’T look so frightened,” Tracy Finn tells me. We are sat in the big Queen Street branch of HSBC in the City. It’s 10am on Wednesday morning, and I’m only about a year late for this meeting. “I help dozens of people with their personal debt every month,” she assures me. “Most of them earning [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 19, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES SIEMENS SHELTERS CASH AT ECB Siemens withdrew more than half a billion euros in cash deposits from a large French bank two weeks ago and transferred it to the ECB, in a sign of how companies are seeking havens amid Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. The German industrial group withdrew the money partly because [...]
Rise in Taylor Wimpey sales lifts margins September 19, 2011 HOUSEBUILDER Taylor Wimpey said yesterday that sales rates in recent weeks have been encouraging, as the industry has benefited from a seasonal surge in home buying activity. The FTSE 250-listed firm added it is on track to deliver on margin targets this year. The country’s second largest builder by market value said net sales rates [...]
Taylor Wimpey says housebuilding bouncing back September 19, 2011 Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey said sales rates in recent weeks have been encouraging, as the industry has benefited from a seasonal surge in home buying activity, and added it is on track to deliver on margin targets. The country’s second largest builder by market value said net sales rates so far in the second half are [...]
A rally in commodities gives a rare fillip to the FTSE 100 September 6, 2011 A RALLY by hard-pressed commodity issues hauled Britain’s top share index higher yesterday as investors fished choppy waters for bargains after sharp falls in the past two sessions. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was up 54.26 points, or 1.1 per cent, at 5,156.84, having hit a peak of 5,190.2 in the morning and [...]
How Washington created sub-prime September 4, 2011 AMERICANS love lawsuits. It’s the way they do business. But the news that the authorities supervising the US housing agencies are suing 17 banks over the sub-prime crisis was unintentionally hilarious. To see why, recall that the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (Freddie Mac) – government sponsored [...]
Bank lawsuit looms large over the equity markets September 4, 2011 THIS morning’s direction for the markets will be dominated by the news which came out late on Friday evening that a US regulator is suing 17 financial institutions for mis-selling billions of dollars’ worth of mortgage bonds, which ultimately proved toxic when the US housing market collapsed. The targets included not only major US banks [...]
Northern Rock owner to credit check clients August 31, 2011 THE administrator of failed lenders Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley is monitoring its 750,000 mortgage-holding customers for signs of financial stress and will offer advice to any it feels may be struggling, it emerged yesterday. UK Asset Resolution checked customers’ creditworthiness to identify those that may need to cut spending to continue paying their [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 30, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES DISPUTE ERUPTS OVER CONTROL OF LIBYA’S $65BN SOVEREIGN FUNG A dispute has erupted over control of Libya’s $65bn (£40bn) sovereign wealth fund, as the national transitional council attempts to maintain stability in the nation. Several NTC members have contested the authority of Mahmoud Badi, who is probing corruption at the Libyan Investment Authority. HONG [...]
S&P lowers more ratings August 8, 2011 A SWATHE of US institutions were stripped of their gold-plated credit ratings by Standard & Poor’s as the fall-out from the downgrade of the US rating agency continued yesterday. As Moody’s weighed its decision to hold the US at AAA, S&P cut the two giant US mortgage agencies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to AA+ [...]